


bittersweet

by rexcaliburechoes



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Relationship Study, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Rivalry, Sortof, Temporary Character Death, kliff and tatiana are mentioned by name but otherwise not really important, no beta we dye like mne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24342640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexcaliburechoes/pseuds/rexcaliburechoes
Summary: in which luthier has a bitter dream and delthea's foundation is shaken.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	1. bitter

He was on the battlefield again. As always. The air was thick with magic and the stench of metal and blood. He wanted to pull his cloak over his nose and block out the smell, but he didn’t. He could handle such a sight. It wasn’t a problem at all. Even though he wasn’t expecting being shoved into a war against the neighboring country. All he wanted to do was find his sister. He wanted to find his sister and go home, back to the small village in the woods where everyone knew each other and it was safe and his study was filled with books and knowledge and the comforting warmth of a cup of tea in his hands and a purring cat in his lap as he jotted down notes on different systems of magic.

But no. Delthea had to run away and off to some place outside of the village because she couldn’t just be satisfied with what she had already. With what she was blessed with. With what she had that he didn’t have.

He shouldn’t blame her. He couldn’t. He knew how she felt about being trapped into a destiny she didn’t want. He knew she wasn’t at fault for being born with such raw magical talent. So, why was he so bitter?

He trudged through the battlefield, looking for his sister to ensure that she was safe. He stepped over a soldier’s body, grimacing at the burns that scorched his body. There were only a handful of mages Alm’s company- himself, Delthea, and that white-haired boy (what was his name? Kliff, was it?). He wasn’t sure why he was curious as to who inflicted the wound. He shook his head. Did his sister do that? He was aware that she tagged along- he had given her a stern talking to about what fighting other trained soldiers meant- but the idea that Delthea would have needed to kill others had not crossed his mind.

He gripped the hem of his cloak. Was she injured? He hadn’t seen her since the middle of the battle. Where was she?

No. She was okay. Or so he hoped. He couldn’t jump to conclusions. She was  _ fine,  _ nothing bad happened to her. Everything was alri

His foot caught another body and he nearly tripped. His stomach sank. His hands grew cold. No. This wasn’t right. No. No, no. This is false. It couldn’t be happening. No.

“D-Delthea...?” He whispered to the body. “Delthea, open your eyes!”

He didn’t feel himself falling to the ground, nor did he feel his hands wrapping around her shoulders and shaking her violently. This was  _ wrong _ . It couldn’t be true.

His breath stuttered in his throat as her head slowly lifted. Her eyes opened but they were glazed and unfocused. Her lips parted, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

“Brother… why did you let me leave? Why didn’t you stop me?” she rasped.

“I…” he was at a loss for words. It was getting hard to breathe. “But I… I  _ did _ ...”

“Why didn’t you help me? Why didn’t you save me?” Purple miasma cloaked her body as she slowly raised a hand to touch his chestplate he wore. She pressed down on it, the rim cutting into his skin. “Was it because you were jealous? Was it because you wanted what I have?”

“That’s not-!” He could feel his chest tightening with every word she said. The smoke was thick, obscuring her face and wrapping around her hands. “That’s not true! I would never!”

“Is that true,  _ brother _ ?” Her words were tinged with venom. “All you’ve ever wanted was the gift I inherited. The gift that’s rightfully mine. Did you think that if you let me die, you would inherit it,  _ Luthier _ ?"

She spat out his name as though it was poison to her. He inhaled, but all he did was breath in the smoke instead of air. It masked the coppery tang of the battlefield with sickly sweetness. He could vaguely hear someone calling his name from far away. It echoed in his ears, _Luthier… Luthier… Luthier, Luthier! Wake up-!_

He gasped, jolting awake. He thrashed around for a moment, finally kicking off the thin blankets he was covered with. His vision spun and he coughed, his chest heaving as he was finally ridded of that cloying scent of smoke and the bitter taste of blood in the air. He sat up, sucking in another breath of fresh air, his vision spinning a little less. He could feel his hands shaking in time with his fluttering heart and he clasped them in front of him to try to stop shaking.

“Oh, thank goodness!” He heard a sweet voice on his left. “I was worried that you would rip your wounds open. That was a really bad dream… You look exhausted.”

A cup of water was placed in his hands by the green-haired woman (Tatiana, correct?). He stared at it dumbly before taking a sip, the events of what happened before returning in fragments. He was in the infirmary tent. Dealthea was okay. Why was he here? He must have collapsed on the battlefield at some point. There was an enemy witch or cantor he had teleported behind the two and-

He took another deep breath. _A d_ _ ream _ . He blinked before turning to the woman. “Thank you.”

She smiles at him and gently pats his arm. “Of course! Are you feeling a little better?”

“Yeah. What happened in the battle?” He needed to know for sure that Delthea was safe. That she was okay.

Her family fades a little and his heart stops in his chest. He opens his mouth to ask before she backtracks. “Oh, your little sister- Delthea, right? She’s okay! Actually, you saved her from the witch that teleported behind your unit. The battle went well, otherwise-”

_ Thank Mila _ . He takes another deep breath, his hands tightening around the wooden mug of water. He isn’t sure how he would be able to live with himself if she-

He cut that thought off. He couldn’t think about that. It didn’t happen, so it was fine. It was just a bad dream, that was all. There was nothing to tell about that. But something nagged at the back of his head.

He finally realises that she was still talking and tunes back into her words, embarrassingly enough. He mentally berates himself for zoning out. “We’ll be staying in this area for a little while longer. The battle was tough, and we need to recover- wait, where are you going? You shouldn’t be walking around for another few hours after the hit you took!”

“It’s alright,” he reassures her. “I just need to clear my head. I’ll be fine.” He stands up, grabbing his cloud and throwing it around his shoulders. He can feel his legs shake as he rights himself to his full height.

The woman pouts. She takes a few steps, as if to follow him. “But-”

“I’ll come right back; I won’t be long. Five minutes?” He bargains. He needs to get out of the tent and away from people. He needs to sort out what that nightmare meant to him. What that dream apparition said.

“Fine. But five minutes,  _ only _ !”

He gives her a small smile and ducks out of the small tent. Finally. The camp was bustling with people, though. Not enough quiet to parse out his feelings. He made for the edges of camp, avoiding as many people as he could. Finally, he finds a relatively quiet part, right by a tree. He sits down, his back brushing the trunk and sighs softly.

That nightmare… it was said that dreams were unfiltered thoughts that one is unable to process in the waking world. At first, he thought that was false. He’d only had mostly pleasant dreams before. But now that he’d thought about it, maybe there was some merit to the saying. When he was younger, Delthea had shown immense magical talent from the tender age of five. He had only started showing some magical talent at 10 years of age and his parents all but left him to his own devices and studies to cherish the new mage of the family.

So it was only natural that he felt bitter towards his sister, right?

But he’d never wished for anything bad to happen to her. Right?

He’d thrown himself into his studies and buried that bitterness. It was nothing to him. He’d still shown magical promise. Bitterness wasn’t necessary. It was stupid. It was frustrating to deal with. It was useless. So he didn’t give it a second thought.

So, why was it resurfacing now? There was no reason for it to. Maybe it was because she acted so blase on the battlefield. But then, she’d told him that she worked just as hard as the others, and she did, didn’t she?

So then, it had to be a problem with him. His shoulders drooped.  _ That’s _ what it was. He’d held her to an impossible standard because of her gifts. He kept pushing her in hopes that she would meet that standard, but she’d only pushed back. And he felt bitter because that’s not what  _ he _ would do. But he wasn’t Delthea. Sure, she could stand to be more humble and she could hone her talent so that she could surpass even her ancestors. But she didn’t want to be locked into a path she didn’t want.

_ I have to apologise to her _ . He thought suddenly.  _ Besides, she did make a good point in our last conversation _ …

As he started to sit up, he heard a small hiccup behind him. Then, a sniffle. He frowned and looked behind the tree.

“What’s- Delthea?”


	2. sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which everything works out.

Delthea was not having fun at all. Honestly, maybe Lu was right. But she needed to get out and away from the expectations pushed onto her and maybe, just maybe, prove that she didn’t need to constantly train from sun-up to sun-down. Plus, she was responsible! Lu didn’t have to remind her about what tagging along meant. She could handle traveling and fighting thing.

The company slowly marched into the Rilgelian border and the wind started to pick up, rattling her bones. She pulled her rough training cloak closer to her bare arms to try to preserve some warmth. Even though she and her brother had lived relatively close to the border, meaning that it was colder than say, southern Zofia (not that she’d minded- she was too busy playing around and chucking snowballs at her friends/brother), she wasn’t expecting the wind to be so… nippy.

She edged closer to Lu, hoping to use him as a windbreaker for the time being. He only gave her a glance before raising his arm and letting her hide under his cloak. It was blessedly warm and she gave a small sigh. She snuggled closer to his warmth, burrowing into his side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him tilt his head away in a “I’m-going-to-lecture-you” motion.

“You know-” he started, giving her  _ that _ look. She rolls her eyes so hard that they might fall to the back of her skull.

“I  _ don’t _ know, Lu, and frankly, I don’t care. Plus, I didn’t really have a change of clothes on me when I was being mind-puppet-ed.”

“I was  _ going  _ to say that you could have just asked me for my spare cloak,” he started to retract his cloak from around her, a little miffed at her snarky comment. She makes a noise and grabs the edge, wrapping it around herself protectively and giving him a wide-eyed, pathetic stare. He only sighs again in response and pulls her closer to him.

“ _ Mila _ , your hands are cold.” He grouses at her, to which she only sticks her tongue out in response.

A messenger runs towards the captain of their unit. They briefly discuss something before they run off again, to deliver whatever message they have to the unit behind them. Frankly, she wasn’t paying attention to that, or her brother, but she felt that something was wrong. She whips herself out of Lu’s cloak, throwing a fireball in the direction of where she felt the uneasy sensation.

She misses, of course. Luthier follows up with a spell of his own. He clicks his tongue at her, but doesn’t say anything else. She could feel him composing a lecture in his head and she scowls at him.

“Now’s not the time, you know,” she snaps, walking away from him. She hurls another fireball at an enemy archer, knocking him over.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” his voice was equally snappish, which only made her even more annoyed.

“Don’t lie, Lu. You’re not a good liar.”

“Then,  _ fine _ . You need to practice your aim, Delthea. You can’t rely on the spell doing all the work.”

“Whatever,” she scoffs. She didn’t need his magical theory lecture. She was a good enough mage to not need to practice as much as him. She turns away from him, then, running towards the front of their unit to help out there, clearing out a path for the rest to follow.

Luthier calls her name and she yells back at him. “Go away, Lu! I can handle myself, you know!”

He only shouts her name even more insistently. She turns on her heel to face him, frustration welling in the pit of her stomach. “ _ Mila, _ what do you-?!”

Delthea’s eyes widen as she watches Luthier stagger backwards, taking the full impact of an incoming spell. A spell that was meant for  _ her _ . Everything was moving in slow motion. He falls to the ground, electricity sparking through his body. Her eyes snap to the Witch who floated nearby, lingering sparks of Thunder fading from her fingertips. Delthea’s fists wreathed themselves in purple smoke.

“You- you  _ jerk! _ ” She screeches, white-hot rage boiling through her veins. She pointed both of her hands at the Witch, suffocating her in a pillar of purple light. She turns to the next one, flames flickering in her hands. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the fireball spinning towards his face, where it caught on his robes. The flames flickered, hungrily devouring everything on his person. She didn’t even feel herself moving forward, casting spell after spell after spell, leaving a wake of destruction in her path.

Someone grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her to the side. A sharp retort fell from her mouth, but the man only huffed, dragging her further from the front lines. The rage in her veins cooled as the while light of Recover washed over her.

“Geez,” the mage grumbled. “Fight’s over. You’re gonna kill yourself.”

She let out a shaky breath and glanced at her hands. They were shaking badly, too. Exhaustion creeped up her spine, alleviated only slightly by the healing spell. She pushed herself too hard, she knows, but she couldn’t just do  _ nothing _ . Not when her brother’s out. They  _ hurt _ him. She didn’t know where he was or if he would be okay, she just knew that he shielded her, and that  _ scared  _ her. She could have survived that. She would have been okay! He didn’t have to stupidly put himself in the way for her sake. The idiot! She could have handled that herself! She wasn’t a helpless child!

“What… happened?” she asks, tentatively. It’s not that she completely blacked out, but everything felt hazy and out of focus.

“You went on a rampage.” he says shortly. “Almost like you were possessed.”

Her mouth forms a soft ‘o’. The only other time that happened was at the Sluice Gate… and she didn’t like what that entailed. She pulled her cloak closer to herself, missing the reassuring presence of her brother behind her. “I’m sorry...” 

He only eyes her critically and drags her back to the makeshift camp by her wrist. She’s too tired and doesn't protest. Finally, he releases her, looks her up and down, and says finally, “Go see your brother, or something. Help out with the healers.”

A pit of dread opens in her stomach. It didn’t sound like he was… so there wasn’t a reason to worry about that, right? He was fine. She was sure of it. “Where is he?”

“Probably in the healers’ tent,” his sarcasm is missed on her as she bolts in the opposite direction of the healers’ tent. She couldn’t face him right now. She was so  _ stupid _ . She’d almost killed herself fighting those people, and she’d let herself slip back into that hazy realm of not quite realizing what she was doing with her magic. Was she in control? Could she distinguish friend from foe? Vaguely, she remembers from one of Lu’s lectures that it was… possible, and that she needed to practice more control. Maybe he  _ was _ right. Maybe she wasn’t prepared for this at all.

She stumbled to a stop in front of a tree, panting in uneven, shuddering gasps. Collapsing to her knees, she tried to not let the tears fall.  _ Mila _ , she was so stupid. She curled herself inward, pulling her cloak around her arms. She missed Luthier. She wanted him to tell her it would be okay, and that everything was  _ fine _ , that everything would  _ go back to normal _ , just like in their tiny village in the middle of nowhere, when she would get mad at her friends or at their parents’ insistence that she had to do everything they wanted her to do.

She hiccupped, sniffling as she scrubbed away her tears.

“What’s- Delthea?” She jumped, hearing her brother's voice come from behind her. She stubbornly stared at the ground, ignoring his footsteps crunching on the grass as he came to sit beside her. Pulling her knees to her chest, she looks away, trying to scrub away the remaining tear tracks that ran down her face.

“What do you want, Lu?” She grumbles, pulling away from the hand that rested on her shoulder.

“I just… wanted to make sure you were okay. The last thing I remember was you storming off, and…” he pauses, thinking for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

She whips her head back to him, incredulously. “What are  _ you _ saying sorry for?”

“Well, I-” Now, it was his turn to sheepishly look away from her. “I held you to the same standard mother and father did. And that wasn’t fair of me.”

“Wow. That’s… random.”

“D-Don’t make fun of me for that!” She laughs at his expression and he only turns even redder. She laughs even harder.

“What brought that on?” She tries to suppress her grin. They were having two entirely different conversations and she really didn’t mind that. It was… nice to know that he was okay enough to be completely random like that. It was nice to know that he was  _ okay _ . He could be a real big idiot of a brother, sometimes. But he was her idiot.

“... Just thinking, that’s all.” He answers vaguely. Of course, he can’t be too forward with what he actually thinks. Because this is her brother. And he’s a dummy. “I’m getting the feeling like we’re having two separate conversations. You were crying earlier.”

She doesn’t reply, at first, her smile fading a little from her face. Should she tell him what she did? He probably should know, but she didn’t want to have another lecture about control and working hard and the same things she’s heard over a zillion times, now. So, she does the thing she normally does, and tries to deflect his concern. She didn't need him more worried than he already was.

“I was just worried, that’s all,” she finally says, a little petulantly. He raises an eyebrow. She never was a good liar.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“Hm. Well, if you want to join me in practicing, just let me know.” Of course, he’s also a lot more perceptive than she gives him credit for, too. He stares into her face before finally standing, mumbling something about being out more than five minutes. She stands up, too, grabbing his cloak. He sighs, rolls his eyes with a smile and opens his arms enough so that she can wrap herself in it.

Everything would work out in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi.
> 
> I said I'd complete this within two days of originally posting this. I did not do that. oops. but! on the plus side, I _did_ complete something, right? that's gotta count towards something, right??
> 
> well, regardless, I graduated, am thinking of ideas for fic, and have committed to finishing a fic. so, fortunately, this summer, I will be free! until college starts, but shhhhh that's in the far future (not really, but I can think of it as such for now right?) so maybe I'll write more? we'll see.
> 
> thank you for reading _bittersweet_ , though. I really do appreciate any reads I get and also any kudos? and comments? please spare a comment for motivation?
> 
> anyways, until next plot bunny, I suppose!

**Author's Note:**

> hi.
> 
> it's been a while, hasn't it?
> 
> I'm sorry for disappearing off the face of the earth. really, the words didn't come for me until like. Now. also, I'll finally be free for the summer and maybe, just maybe I can work on some other projects I have here but have subsequently abandoned. or maybe I'll rework some of them, who knows.
> 
> I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I love lu and delthea. I actually rp'ed as lu for the longest time (I don't think I'll return to rp though, but maybe I will? who knows) and I have about a zillion hcs for him which I've changed a little bit because we're given the Bare Minimum on his and delthea's backstory and I have a Need to flesh it out. or at least study it a little.
> 
> anyways, expect part b sometime tomorrow or monday. I'm setting a hard deadline for this because I rarely finish things and I think that's a shame.


End file.
